


The Roots, Firm In the Ground

by Chash



Series: Better Ways to Be Alive [6]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Minor Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 00:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20001157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: Madi starts ninth grade with clouds on the horizon.





	The Roots, Firm In the Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Starting off a second arc in this universe! Like the first arc, it'll be some number of linked stories, not sure how many yet or how long it'll take. I guess we'll find out!

At exactly fourteen days, eleven months, and seven days of age--and after exactly two years, eleven months, and nine days of being a witch--Madi Arnold Griffin thinks of herself as pretty good in basically all crises, both mundane and magical. Sometimes, she thinks all the years of mundane problems before she came to live with Clarke were for the best, or at least for the good. What would her life look like now, if she'd had a normal family? If she'd settled into some suburban house with parents who thought Clarke was just an eccentric relative, or, even worse, an artifact of her old life, someone to be shunned.

She's not someone who believes everything happens for a reason, really, but she does believe that her life has turned out pretty well, and that there's every indication it will get better. Even if starting the ninth grade is, it must be said, kind of a bummer.

Her alarm charm wakes her up at 5:45, as usual, and her second alarm charm goes off at 5:50, prodding her out from under the pile of sleepy cats who elected to stay with her last night and onto her feet. Downstairs, Bellamy is already awake, but Clarke isn't; one of the first casualties of his moving in was Clarke waking up before eight. Madi doesn't mind; it's nice to have one of her parental figures awake with her, but she's not bothered about which one. Especially since, even with all Clarke's magic, Bellamy is still a better cook.

"Morning," he says, with his usual tired, crooked smile. "Ready for school?"

"Is anyone ever ready for school?" she asks. "It's school."

"You like school. You got the nerd gene."

"I like _learning_. I still don't think school is actually the best way to do it."

"Yeah, fair enough. High school was better than middle school for me, but it still sucks, I'm sorry you're starting it. Go deal with the chickens."

By now, Madi is basically a chicken expert, and she checks in on the plants while she's at it, looks around the yard to make sure nothing bad has happened. She closes her eyes and lets her magic wash over her, listening to see if there's anything it wants to tell her. It's still strange, like she's trying to connect to a weak wifi signal, information arriving in bits and pieces, but there is a slight sense of _something_. Her magic is blue, in her mind, a great sky spreading out over her head, and there are dark clouds on the horizon.

"Something's up," she tells Bellamy, when she comes back inside. "Something magical. Not sure what."

"Do I need to wake Clarke up?"

"I don't think so. I think it's--" She huffs. "It's not _bad_ exactly. More just kind of a head's up. There's _something_ , and it's not close, maybe not even bad, but it's there."

Luckily, Bellamy is used to this kind of thing; he just nods. "Cool. I'll let Clarke know to keep an eye out." His lips pull up in a smirk. "If I were you, I would have tried to leverage that into a day off school."

"If it was next week, I probably would have. But missing the first day of school actually sounds terrible. Like, don't get me wrong, I don't want to go, but it would be so much more awkward if I had to do all the catching up tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay," Bellamy grants. "That does sound like it would suck. Sit down and eat your breakfast, okay?"

The clouds lurk in the corner of her brain as she eats and washes up, while she's in the shower and getting dressed. It reminds her of having a loose tooth when she was a kid, this persistent annoyance she can't help poking at. Whatever this is, it's _new_ , and even if the magic doesn't think it's dangerous, Madi doesn't like not knowing things.

If it wasn't the first day of school, she really would have taken the day off. It's not an emergency, but it's definitely going to bug her.

Jordan shows up at 6:55 on the dot, as responsible and punctual as ever. She saw him yesterday, but there's still something about the first day of school that makes everyone and everything feel brand new. It doesn't matter that she spent the whole summer with Jordan, it still feels like months since she last saw him. 

And, if she's honest, she's been wondering about Jordan, lately. It's impossible _not_ to wonder about him, because about half of her brain now is always wondering about people, about romance, about whether she's ready to have a boyfriend, or if she's not, if the fact that she hasn't had a boyfriend yet means there's something wrong with her, if she maybe wants a girlfriend, if anyone else wants her to be _their_ girlfriend.

Jordan is cute, she knows. He's got a big, bright smile, and he dresses well. He does cross-country running and skiing, and he runs track in the spring, the same as Madi. He's smart and funny and a great guy, and if he wanted to kiss her, she'd say yes, but she doesn't think she _likes_ him. Not really.

Plus, she can't shake the feeling that maybe Gaia likes him, and the last thing she wants is to become a cliche YA love triangle, the three friends who fall out because hormones get in the way. She can wonder, idly, about Jordan sometimes. But that's all it is, just wondering.

"Are you pumped for ninth grade?" he asks, and the level of enthusiasm in his voice is another excellent reason to never date him. No one should manage that level of pep before seven a.m.

"Are you?" she asks. "Bellamy, Jordan's here, I'm leaving!" she calls over her shoulder as she pulls on her backpack.

"Cool, have a good day!" comes back from the back porch, where he's probably about to get started on some new project. "You too, Jordan!"

It's already warmer than it was when she fed the chickens, the summer heat showing no sign of breaking any time soon. The bus is going to be _miserable_ ; she can't until she or someone who likes her can drive.

"So, seriously," she says. "Are you pumped for ninth grade?"

"I'm not _not_ pumped. And I've been thinking about it. I think this is going to be the good part of high school."

"Really?"

"I think tenth grade will be the best. This year is going to be rocky because we're transitioning from middle school, but at least we aren't in full-on college freakout mode. So it's going to be--" He counts on his fingers. "Senior spring, tenth grade, ninth grade, senior fall, eleventh grade. That's my final projected ranking of high school years."

"I can't fault your logic."

"Of course not. My logic is flawless."

There's already a small group of kids at the bus stop when they get there, a few of whom are friends, or at least friendly acquaintances. They catch up about their summers, Madi telling the usual careful half-truths. She _did_ have a pretty boring summer, by her standards. She did the usual things she always does, and just because that includes finding and neutralizing magical threats, that doesn't mean it was anything special.

Having a secret can be fun, but sometimes, it really sucks, too. Especially when she doesn't have anyone to share it with.

The bus is late, as usual. Jordan gets on first, but lets Madi slide into the first empty seat they get to because he knows she likes the window seat. Gaia moved to the other side of town last year, so they don't have the awkward three-person problem, but it makes Madi feel itchy.

Or maybe that's just the cloud of magic in her peripheral vision that won't go away. Her magic still isn't worried, not exactly, but it's anxious and jumpy. Danger or no, it doesn't like not knowing things any more than Madi does.

On the bright side, it calms down some once they actually get to school, which means it's not such a big deal that the magic thinks she needs to abandon everything else to deal with it. But she checks in periodically and it's still there, persistent. Something _different_. 

She's not worried until she checks her phone after last period and finds Clarke has texted, _Don't take the bus, we're picking you up_.

Maybe it is a big deal.

"I guess Clarke wants to do something special for the first day of school?" she tells Jordan, by way of explanation for why, one, she's not taking the bus, and, two, he can't get a ride. "Sorry."

He heaves a dramatic sigh. "I'll live. Barely. But don't make a habit of it. Friends give friends rides home."

"As soon as I have a license and a car, you've got a ride every day."

"I feel like there are a lot of loopholes in that promise."

She shrugs. "Take it or leave it."

"Can't wait for the ride! Tell your parents I say hi."

They're already waiting when Madi gets outside, and she climbs into the middle seat so she can see them both. Bellamy's driving, and Clarke is frowning, clearly a little confused. "I thought we'd have to take Jordan and Gaia home."

"Nope. I told them we were doing family stuff. Do you know what's going on?"

The frown deepens. "Honestly? No. I'm not getting anything."

It takes Madi a second to comprehend the words, and then it's like cold water dumped all over her. "What?"

"Whatever you're sensing? I'm not sensing it."

"Why would that happen? What does that mean?"

Clarke huffs. "I don't know. Do you think I could just be missing it?"

"Only if your magic thinks it's not a big deal. Mine doesn't know what it is and it doesn't like that."

"Can you describe it?" Bellamy asks. "Maybe Clarke can find it if she knows what she's looking for."

Madi closes her eyes, reaches out for the magic. It's still close, still eager for answers, and when she looks for the strange presence she finds it too, the same as before.

"Like a cloud," she says, waiting for more precise language to come to her. "Or a spill on the horizon? It feels thick and far away, but like it might get closer."

"Which direction?" Bellamy says. "Are we getting closer to it? Farther?"

"Farther. But not, like--" Her face twists up as she tries to find the words, articulate the situation. "I felt like it was stronger when I was going to school, but it didn't feel bigger or closer, really? I was just more aware of it."

"Where is it?" Clarke asks. "Relative to you. Fixed location?"

"No. Always kind of--to my left, in the corner of my eye. No matter what direction I'm facing."

"We might be able to get your magic to track it. It sounds like it's confounding you. And avoiding me."

"How does that work?" Bellamy asks, voice sharp with concern.

"Honestly? I don't know. Maybe it's because Madi's magic is younger?"

"So, what, it's trying to lure in the weaker witch?"

Madi was thinking the same thing, but she still winces. Clarke reaches back to squeeze her knee. "We don't know what it's doing. But we're going to be careful and we're going to be smart and we're going to figure it out."

"We are," Bellamy agrees, and Madi believes them, but there's also an anxious knot in her stomach. This is new for them; they're supposed to be the experts. "So, aside from that, how was the first day of school?"

Madi smiles. "Pretty boring, comparatively."

"That's good," he says. "Imagine how much it would suck if school had been worse."

That even gets a laugh out of her. "Yeah. Imagine that."

*

The first day of school is always the Tuesday after Labor Day, and they prefer to deal with magical threats on weekends, which means Madi has three more days of school to get through before they can find and fight whatever it is that she's seeing. Ordinarily, she wouldn't mind, but Clarke _still_ can't sense the thing and the longer it goes the more it worries her. If she'd ever thought about it, she thinks the idea of magic only she could sense would be exciting, some sign that she's special.

In reality, though, it feels like she did something wrong, and all she wants to do is find out what happened and stop it.

"It has to mean something, right?" she asks, Wednesday night. "That I can sense it and you can't."

"Yeah, of course," says Clarke, too immediate to be any kind of comfort. "We just don't know what."

"Did you find any options? I know you were looking."

"You act like I have some sort of useful database I can consult. It was just me and Bellamy throwing ideas at each other and seeing if anything stuck."

"And?"

"I think it's like radio waves," Bellamy says. "Maybe you and Clarke are on similar frequencies, but it's not exactly the same, so you're picking up different stuff."

"Did that ever happen with your grandmother?"

Clarke sighs. "Not as far as I know. But I don't know if she would have told me. There were plenty of times when I mentioned something and she was like, yes I was waiting for you to notice that. But she could have just been BSing me."

"And there was all the stuff we didn't tell her," Bellamy adds. "Maybe she let us deal with so much stuff because she didn't actually know about it."

"That's the other thing," says Clarke, tapping her jaw. "Whatever this is, it's not just weird because only you can sense it. It's not acting like normal magic either. Gram didn't know about the stuff we dealt with because she wasn't close enough to it. This one isn't like that, though."

"No. But it doesn't feel, like--" She lets out a huff of frustration. "My magic doesn't know what it is, but it's curious, not freaked out. It's different, but it's not scary."

"Maybe that's what it wants you to think," says Bellamy.

"Wow, comforting thought there."

He shrugs. "It's just a possibility. But one difference between the two of you is experience. Maybe this is a trap for younger witches."

"Cheerful," says Clarke.

"Hey, at least she's got an advantage. If it's trying to prey on the weak and inexperienced, Madi has backup."

"That's true." She smiles, and Madi feels a little better too. If it is reaching out to her specifically for some reason, that doesn't mean she has to deal with it alone. "Whatever it is, we'll handle it. Don't worry."

"I know. I just wish we were dealing with it _now_."

"You're the one who didn't want to use this as an excuse to miss school," Bellamy says. "I would have let you pretend to have the flu."

"You're going to be such a good dad," Madi says without thinking, and of course he frowns.

"Are you saying I'm not already a good dad?"

His tone is mild, but there's a rebuke in it too, or some kinder word she doesn't know. An unspoken _I'm your dad too, and the baby won't change that_.

She does believe it, obviously. But she also believes that once the baby is born, it'll call Bellamy _dad_ , and she could do that too, but it feels wrong, somehow, just like calling Clarke _mom_. They're her family--her parents, even--and she loves them, and the new baby will be her sibling, but it's still different.

"I think you'll get better," she says, and his face breaks open with a laugh.

"Every day, I'm hoping."

"You're doing pretty well."

"Thanks." He glances at Clarke. "Speaking of, do you actually know anything about how pregnancy affects magic?"

"It hasn't yet, I don't know why it would start."

"We haven't actually done anything big, though. I'm not worried about your magic, I'm worried about you talking to other magic."

"That couldn't be why, right?" Madi asks. "Like your magic is protecting you? It doesn't want you going out and finding problems."

Clarke scowls. "It better not be."

"I did think of that," Bellamy adds, since Clarke seems to just want to glare the universe into submission. Pregnancy doesn't disagree with her so much as she disagrees with it; she has been told that she can't do things because of her condition, and she hates it. "But Gram probably would have mentioned it."

"Like the period conversation?" Madi asks. Clarke had passed that one on, and while she appreciates knowing that her magic goes a little haywire during that time of the month, the actual conversation was beyond awkward.

"Yeah, I assume she would have covered it." Clarke sighs. "I know it's possible, but I want to think my magic wouldn't do that. And wouldn't hide something from me when I asked directly."

That, Madi does understand. If Clarke's magic is not only making unilateral decisions about what she can and cannot handle, but _lying_ about it? That would be a huge red flag, the kind of thing that would bring back all of Madi's childhood questions about how they knew they were the good guys. About all they have is the trust that their magic is on _their_ side.

Bellamy kisses her hair. "I think it's probably something else. Just spitballing here."

"I know. And it's definitely possible. But if that's right--"

"There are some implications," Bellamy agrees. "I think it's probably not that, but it's a possibility."

"I could still pretend to have the flu," Madi offers. "So we can figure it out sooner."

"I've got more research to do anyway," Clarke says. "Stuff to prepare. And you've got homework to do."

"I bet it was way easier being a witch when all you had to do before you could deal with stuff was daily chores."

Bellamy snorts. "You would have had a lot more chores."

"Right now, I'd take it." She sighs, only overplaying it a little. "Speaking of homework, I'm going to go do that. I'll let you know if anything changes."

Of course, they don't object, but when Madi gets to her room, she doesn't pull her books out. Instead, she pulls out her talking board.

The talking board was Madi's idea, although it feels as if Clarke and Bellamy should have been able to come up with it on their own. Clarke had a pack of cards she used to talk to her magic, like she was doing tarot or something, and Madi asked if they couldn't just put them all together. Bellamy made the board and did the carvings, but Madi picked her own glyphs, and it really _does_ help. They're hollow, so her magic fills them up when it replies, illuminating the empty space in blue light.

It reminds her of nothing so much as Lyra reading the alethiometer in _His Dark Materials_ , talking to her magic. She doesn't ask _Do you know why Clarke can't sense this magic?_ because those words don't exist in her glyphs. Instead, she picks _unknown magic_ , and her own magic repeats it back, acknowledging that they're both on the same page, and then she picks _parent_ , to mean Clarke, _darkness_ and _anxiety_.

The magic pauses, and flashes back _anxiety_ , _rain_ , and _time_ , and Madi takes that to mean that the magic doesn't know either, that it doesn't get what's going on or why Clarke can't sense this, but they're just going to have to wait. She knows her magic doesn't like it any more than the rest of them do, but it accepts that they have to wait.

She thanks the magic, opens up her laptop, and starts her homework, doing her best to ignore the inky cloud in the corner of her mind.

One day down, two to go.

*

On Saturday morning at ten, right in the middle of their preparations for trying to track the magic down, it shifts, becomes suddenly crystal clear. Whatever it is, it's no longer in her periphery, and the change is so sudden and swift that she actually turns around, looking behind her as if she's expecting to find whatever the source of the magic right there and waiting for her.

"What?" asks Clarke.

"You can't feel it?" It's still unbelievable, that she can sense this so clearly and Clarke is completely in the dark. It feels like she must be wrong, but the magic is just there and signaling her, as obvious as a lighthouse. "It changed. I know exactly where it is."

"That's not ominous at all," Bellamy grumbles. "But I guess it makes our lives easier."

"Changed how?" Clarke asks.

"Like instead of a cloud, it's more of a--I don't know. But it's a fixed point. Like a pin on a map."

"And it's that way?" Clarke asks, following her gaze. It's in the direction of town, vaguely, but Madi isn't good enough with geography to hazard a guess as to where.

"Yeah."

"Okay." She nods, once. "Okay. Let's get our stuff and go. ASAP."

"Now we're rushing?" Bellamy asks, curious, but he's already standing and gathering his things.

"Something changed," says Clarke. "And we don't need to try to figure out a location spell, so, yeah. We're rushing."

Not that it's easy. They grab their things and get in the car, Bellamy driving and Clarke in shotgun, Madi in the back trying to navigate based not on roads, but on the pull of the magic. It's strong, at least, but she wishes she was on a bike, or even walking, not bound by roads. There's something about unbound magic that makes her anxious and antsy, the knowledge of this wrong that needs to be righted, of the world being out of order. Her own magic is itching to make it right.

Clarke is antsy too, but only because they're traveling so far. Magic tends to have a pretty limited range, and if Madi could feel this from two towns away, it has to be pretty powerful. Clarke wards the car, wards herself and Bellamy, makes sure Madi has all of her defenses up, but when they stop in front of the nondescript office building Madi _knows_ is the source of the magic, Clarke still lingers in the car.

"If we don't do this, who will?" Madi asks. "If it's this powerful--"

"And maybe we've got it at a disadvantage," Bellamy adds. "If it's expecting anyone, it's Madi. Not you and not me."

"You don't have to come," she adds, just in case. "I know, with the baby--"

"I'm coming. I just--I want us all to be careful."

Even with the wards, the aura of magic hits Madi like a heatwave as soon as she's out of the car, thick and stifling, pressing in on her. It's separate from the power that's been drawing her, which she can still feel inside the building, and she glances at Clarke. "Do you feel it now?"

Clarke frowns. "Yeah. Some. But it's not--I think it's a person."

It hadn't occurred to her; Clarke is the only other witch she knows, the only person with an aura of her own. She doesn't really notice it much, only when they're very close, and even then, Clarke's ward keeps most of her powers hidden. She doesn't know what another witch would feel like.

"A person?"

"Yeah." She exhales. "That's good. We can talk to them."

"What's my line?" Bellamy asks. "If this is a witch fight?"

"I don't know. We should have brought a dog," says Clarke. "For protection."

"I could probably find one. You want me to try?"

"Just keep an ear open." She sighs, long and careful, and then asks Madi, "How are you doing?"

She shrugs. "It's--really strong. The magic. I can't believe it's not bothering you."

"Do you need to wait out here?"

It's kind of funny, all three of them trying to let the others off the hook. "No. I want to see what it is. This is my thing," she adds. "I get to be there."

"Okay," says Clarke. "Stay close."

She's the one to get the door, opening it into a very ordinary hallway. Madi leads, cutting through the haze of magic to try and find its source. It's more than she's used to dealing with, especially alone, and she can't help remembering that first time she ever saw magic, in the basement of Monty's store, when something she couldn't even feel nearly knocked Clarke off her feet. She's never been on this side of it before, and she doesn't like it.

"I think there's something here," she says. "Something that needs to be tethered. Not just a person."

"It's got to be a test," Bellamy says, and the idea hadn't really formed itself in Madi's head yet, but as soon as the words are out, it clicks. It has to be, something for _her_ , something to see what kind of witch she is. "To see if Madi knows how to deal this."

"Yes," says a voice, and all three of them jump, turn behind them to the person none of them sensed, this unfamiliar man watching them with the small curve of a smile. "It is a test."

Clarke steps in front of Madi and Bellamy steps in front of Clarke, and Madi has to bite back a giggle because it's scary but it's kind of ridiculous, too. Everyone trying so hard to protect everyone else, tripping over each other in their haste to be the hero. They have got to stop doing this, as a family.

"Don't worry," says the man. "I'm not going to hurt you. You just took me by surprise. It's been a long time since we found a gifted family, especially one working together. You are gifted as well, aren't you?" he asks, eyes sliding to Clarke. "I can feel the edges of power around your wards."

"Who are you?" says Bellamy, jaw tight. "And what do you want from us?"

"Nothing bad, I assure you." His expression is serene, inscrutable. "My name is Dante Wallace. I'm a teacher."


End file.
